The present invention relates in general to machines for removing metal from metallic workpieces and in particular to an improved holder for supporting both cutting and drilling tools which is adapted for use with a metal removing machine having a rotatable driving mechanism.
The shaping of metallic workpieces to a desired form by removing metal therefrom is one of the most important manufacturing processes utilized in the modern world. Many different methods are known for selectively removing metal from such workpieces, such as chiseling, filing, cutting, drilling, and the like. Each metal removing method is suited to achieve a particular shape or configuration of the workpiece upon which it is utilized, and various tools are known for accomplishing each of these methods. As the metal working industry has begun to automate, there have been developed numerous machines for holding and operating such tools and the metallic workpieces upon which they are utilized. In the past, a single metal removing tool was held and operated (typically by rotation) at a single work station of the machine, while the metallic workpieces were indexed through a series of different work stations. In this manner, a workpiece requiring multiple metal removing steps could be efficiently produced. More recently, multiple metal removing tools have been mounted on a combined tool holder at a single work station of the machine. Since two metal removing processes can be performed at a single work station, the efficiency of the machine is greatly enhanced by the combined tool holder. However, in order to promoted such efficiency, the combined tool holder must be simple to utilize and must be able to quickly and accurately position each of the metal removing tools thereon.